RWBY: Shadows of Light
by B.D. Skunkworks
Summary: "I want to be a Guardian..." Those are the words that Ruby Rose has lived her life by; to protect those that cannot protect themselves. After proving her mettle in an unforeseen battle, she is invited to The Tower by The Speaker himself to live her dream. It is here that she not only learns the secrets of the Light, but of a threat that could destroy all of humanity's Golden Age...
1. Chapter 1- The Ides of March

**A/N: Yes, it's the worst thing of all time; the pre-story head note. And worse still, I've got another fanfic on my mind (when will it ever stop!?) As you know, I am a huge Destiny fan, and if you didn't know...now you do. And after watching RWBY for the zillionth time...something clicked...and it happened instantly.**

** I kept asking myself, is Monty Oum a Destiny fan; or has Bungie been watching a lot of RWBY lately? The two properties have WAY too many idiosyncrasies for them to be purely coincidental. Seriously, just watch the opening prologue to RWBY episode one and see if it doesn't sound point for point like the plot of Destiny.**

** Which is exactly why these two properties make such an amazing crossover. Everything is practically already in place, you just have to flesh it out. **

** And in regard to this fic's contents; The setting is Earth, pre-collapse, just at the tail end of the Golden Age. I believe Earth makes a better setting than Remnant for this due a few infuriatingly inexplicable nuances that are present in the show, (most of them racial/cultural). There were a few opportunities that I think were missed and I warn you that I'll be taking a few...'ethnic' liberties with the characters. Also, usually I create entire casts of OC's...**

** That will not be happening here.**

** The characters and worlds of RWBY and Destiny really are dynamic enough to stand on their own without being tampered with and skewed to death; so expect to see the various characters of both properties involved...as well as some others!**

** But enough from me. You want the story right? Well, gets ta readin', I hope you enjoy!**

**...**

*Legend 1*

The Ides of March

...

It was windy; it was _very _windy. What made this even more annoying for poor Ruby was the fact that she was walking _into_ the breeze, making her hood all but useless. And then of course, there was the additional weight of the weapon she had strapped to her back which made making headway into the wind even harder.

She was currently on her way to the center of Basel's theater district, where an exhibition from the tower's Guardians was set to take place later that afternoon. What the exhibition exactly entailed was not made public knowledge, so it was all up to conjecture. But Ruby knew that this was her one chance to see Guardians in action with her own eyes. Up until now she had only ever heard stories recounted to her or watched glorified television broadcasts that showed the soldiers of the light thwarting the various threats that had begun to spring up all over earth.

The city of Basel was just in the south of the country that came to be known as The New United Kingdoms. Although Ruby was born and raised here along with her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, her heritage is exactly as Chinese as her elder sister's name...well, half so; both of the girl's are also half Caucasian. But even their unique ethnicity paled in comparison to their surroundings; what with strange blue-skinned awoken; human-like robots called Exos; and the various Faunus that populated Basel, no one thought a half Caucasian, half Chinese girl walking down the street was worth much of a second look.

Ruby ducked swiftly through the door of a small convenience store on her right, furiously rubbing her ears to get their blood flowing as to warm them up again. She swept her silver-colored eyes over the isles of various offerings until she found what she was looking for; the magazine section. She glided an index finger over the brightly-colored covers until she found her choice, "Weapons Mon Mar," she whispered triumphantly. With it being the fifteenth of March, she knew the weapons magazine would be on store shelves. She excitedly flipped through the pages, passing over the boring advertisements and other media related propaganda to get to the good stuff.

The guns.

Ruby was an admitted 'total super nerd' when it came to weaponry. She loved and appreciated every weapon type there was; their varied forms and functions striving them to separate themselves from one another, much like people did. Ruby always thought that seeing a new weapon was much like meeting a new person; she wondered how it worked; how it would fare when pitted against weapons of similar makes and models. She stopped just on a page with a selection of hand cannons. She smiled to herself, remembering her sister's fondness of the heavy magnums. One in particular caught her eye. "Hard Luck Mk. 52. 'Marked with spades. Tuned for a fight. Ready to end any uncomfortable disputes.' That sounds like Yang all the way," she chuckled.

Ruby's weapon of choice was the pulse rifle. She favored their smooth ballistics and reliable precision. Of course she knew that there was no pulse rifle in this magazine or any other that could possibly outperform the one currently in her possession, but it excited her to look at them anyway. "Ooooh!" She squeaked. "The new Baryon MSc! That's not supposed to be out for another year!" Her fangirl squee had caught the attention of two other shoppers in her isle, right where the candy section began (Ruby's next stop). Their initial frowns of disapproval quickly turned into gapes of horror as their eyes fell on Ruby's pulse rifle. Ruby kept her eyes on her magazine as she expelled a huff through her nostrils. Crescent Rose always elicited this kind of response from people; she was used to it...and she kind of liked it.

Just then, the shopkeeper walked his way over to Ruby. "Sorry young miss, but no browsing," he said rather gruffly.

"Oh, sorry, I was buying it anyway," Ruby said back. As she passed the candy isle, she plucked a bag of her favorite treats from the rack; P's and Q's. "Sooo Tastyyyy..." she sang.

As the shopkeeper rang her items up for sale, he caught sight of the weapon on her back. "You out to see the Guardian's exhibition today?"

"Absolutely!" was Ruby's musical response.

The man grunted acknowledgment. "Wouldn't really need Guardians if the Traveler was doing it's job, now would we?"

Ruby pursed her lips in response. No one was supposed to bad mouth the Traveler; it was responsible for all of the blessings of the Golden Age they were currently enjoying. There were no faults with it. Ruby hastily handed the man twenty glimmer to pay for her goods and exited the shop. "Stupid jerk..." she huffed. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and cast her view out towards the horizon, where the tip of the mysterious sphere was just barely visible at the limit of the skyline.

The Traveler had come to rest at the northernmost part of the New United Kingdoms, and that's exactly where they built the Tower; the place where the Guardians lived. _Wouldn't really need Guardians if the Traveler was doing it's job, now would we?..._ The doubt crept into Ruby's mind along with the memory of that statement. Lately, vicious creatures have been showing up on earth. Their origins were as mysterious as that of the Traveler's, but one thing was clear; they were enemies. The Traveler was believed to be protecting humanity, not just on earth, but on all the worlds beyond it. Then what were those creatures doing here? And why were they so opposed to it's existence?

Ruby shook off this grim train of thought as she remembered her itinerary. 'This is supposed to be a happy day' she thought. She was going to meet real life Guardians for the first time, she should be ecstatic. But more thoughts came into her head. Just what were the Guardian's roles? Protectors of humanity. But from what? Why would the Traveler grace Guardians with such fantastic powers? It's almost like it knew it was being hunted...

Ruby's thoughts were truly derailed by the sound of screams that suddenly pierced trough the air. Those were not screams of delight, as such a day should bring. The screams were soon followed by a flood of civilians running as fast as they could in the opposite direction Ruby was walking. "What's happening?" she asked as they stormed passed.

"Fallen, in the square!" One of them answered at top speed.

Ruby was sure she heard wrong. How could the Fallen possibly be here of all places; this close to the Traveler? She tossed her magazine and candies to the ground as she sprinted up the block, her red cloak flapping behind her. She came to a stop at the edge of the open square and caught her breath. She crouched low as she surveyed the area, and there in the center, sure enough, were the Fallen in question. Four arms; ragged cloaks and shaggy armor; they were Vandals.

How in the world did they get here? More importantly, there was supposed to be a contingent of Guardians on hand for today's event, _where the hell were they!?_ If no one else was here, Ruby knew she was going to have to take matters into her own hands. Her Hunter instincts began to take over as she surveyed the area, noting objects she could use as cover and any good vantage points that the square offered. Ruby unstrapped the weapon from her back, loaded a fresh clip from her belt and cocked the hammer. She was ready.

Ruby took a quick series of sharp breaths before charging from her hiding place. The hard rubber soles of her boots slammed across the pavement, which gave her position away immediately to the Vandals, but she had expected that. Ruby grinned as she charged faster, knowing these aliens were in for a battle that they could not win. For Ruby's pulse rifle of choice...

Was the Red Death.

_TWULAT! TWULAT! TWULAT! _The sound of Crescent Rose's ballistics filled the air along with the death screams of three of the Vandals. The rest of the group scatted, seeing the deaths of their comrades. They shouted at one another in a guttural and esoteric language as they scrambled for better positioning. The pop of their electric rifles alerted Ruby to their return fire as she sprinted for the base of a stone staircase. She carried the momentum of her sprint into a tactical slide which she used to enter her chosen cover. She wasn't safe however. A Vandal sniper had espied her position and let loose a round from it's wire rifle. The electric beam struck Ruby square in the shoulder. "GAGH!" She quickly traced the trajectory of the beam and lined up the sniper with red cross bones of her iron sights. _TWULAT! _What was left of the Vandals soul was jettisoned from it's body as it fell over dead. Ruby sighed in relief from her pain as her weapon's healing agent took affect.

But still she wasn't safe. Every kill with Crescent Rose granted her bonus dexterity, which she used to reload her weapon in a flash as she readied herself for the next assault.

A bright blue flash suddenly sailed over the stairs Ruby was hiding behind as it wedged itself into the concrete there. It was a shock grenade. Ruby yelped as she was forced from her position by the electric explosive; she took a running aim and let Crescent Rose loose on the remainder of the Vandals. They fell with little effort, and Ruby was left alone in the square amongst the carnage.

Weapon still in hand, she approached the nearest group of the lifeless husks that now littered the area. "Sheesh...they're even uglier when they're dead..." She nudged the carcass with her boot; morbid curiosity prompting her further investigation of the thing.

Little did Ruby know, however, that she was being stalked. A silent and invisible assassin was slowly creeping towards her from behind. And when it was finally in range, it struck.

Having no time or awareness to anticipate the blow, Ruby was sent sprawling across the concrete, Crescent Rose flying from her grip. Ruby was barely conscious. In her blurring vision she could just make out the shimmer of distorted air that told of the use of active camouflage. '_A stealth Vandal...'_ she thought. With Crescent Rose yards from her grasp, and Ruby barely coherent, she was sure she was going to be killed. The Vandal dropped it's camouflage, sensing that the kill was at hand. It sounded it's eerie howl at the sky and brought it's beam sword down-

Only to be blasted away at the last moment.

A sudden explosion of deep purple energy had come between the Vandal and it's quarry. Ruby was shocked alert and quickly scrambled to her feet. She watched as the purple energy formed itself into a small bubble between her and the Vandal. '_That's a Vortex Grenade'_ she thought. '_But that would mean...'_ As though in response to her imminent epiphany, a figure fell, as though from the sky, and landed lightly just in front of Ruby.

It was a woman, with blonde hair and bright green eyes. Ruby was sure she recognized her, but her mind was still fuzzy from the Vandal's blow and she couldn't piece together properly from where she might know her.

The woman pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she assessed the situation. While she was no doubt aware of the Vandal in her immediate field of vision, her eyes were darting this way and that, as though scanning for threats that were less apparent than the one in front of her. And no sooner did she realize they were there, a flock of stealth Vandals joined up behind their brethren. There was a small "Hmph," from the woman as she primed her weapon; a dark blue hand cannon, and sprung into action.

_CLOUGH! CLOUGH! CLOUGH! _Vandals were dropping left and right from the pin-point power of her weapon. The Vandals fired back; their shock rifles filling the air with swimming blue projectiles. She easily dodged these by taking to the air with a flare of void energy and hovering quite a few yards above her assailants.

From there, she focused her mind as she called upon her bond with the infinite void of space. She began to shimmer with an ethereal aura, and then, with a sweep of her arm and a sound like tearing space-time, a trio of volatile bolts of void energy hurtled at her enemies. The Vandals were instantly disintegrated as the void energy slammed home. She landed gracefully on her feet again and turned her eyes to Ruby, who only just now remembered who this woman was.

"You're a Warlock..." she gasped. Ruby could do little to suppress her oncoming fangasm. "Can I have your autograph!?" And the next thing Ruby knew...

She was in custody; Guardian's arrest.

She was staring at four gray walls and two angry eyes, who's owner was currently pacing about the room, the sharp heels of her boots _clik-claking_ on the tiled floor. And seemingly worst of all, her weapon had been confiscated.

"I hope you realize, young lady, that your actions today will _not_ go without repercussion," she started.

"Repercussion?!" Ruby whined. "But if I hadn't acted, people could have died!"

"And by doing something as impulsive as engaging a group of unknown hostiles, you put not only yourself in danger, but the lives of the very people you were trying to protect," Was the woman's counter. "Our Guardian contingent would have had the situation under control."

Ruby fell silent as she lowered her eyes to the floor. Her new angle of vision crossed over the woman's calf-high boots. It was there that Ruby noticed her weapon, stowed rather stylishly in a holster at the top of her right boot. "Nifty Biscuit..."

Though Ruby only whispered this, the sound carried true enough through the small confines of the interrogation room. "I beg your pardon?"

Ruby smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Your hand cannon...it's called Nifty Biscuit."

The older woman let out a sigh, mostly through her nose. "While what you did was far beyond reckless, there is something to be said about your skill in combat, and with that...weapon of yours." She grimaced just slightly, as though just the memory of Ruby's deadly pulse rifle was enough to cause her discomfort. "If I had final say on your discipline today, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back..."

Ruby's hopes began to rise just high enough to-

"And a slap on the wrist!" She finished sharply. She gave her rectangular glasses an adjustment before heaving another sigh. "But with all that said, there is someone here who would like to meet you."

She stepped aside to one side of the doorway, her chin in the air and hands clasped behind her back; the classic posture of attention. And from the darkened doorway, stepped a figure that Ruby had only before seen on a television screen. What he was doing here, to see her of all people was beyond any guess she could muster. As he stepped under the room's one light, his full profile was revealed. He could be described as just past middle-aged; his gray-silver hair reflecting the spotlight above him. He wore a neatly pressed black suit with green trimming, and shaded bifocals over his brown eyes. He leaned rather heavily on a walking cane clutched in his left hand.

"Ruby Rose," were his first words upon entry to the room. He leaned over the table, as to better inspect the young girl's face. "You have...silver eyes..." Ruby didn't know what to make of this comment. She had seen stranger eyes on people; mostly awoken, whose eyes literally glowed like neon lights. He settled himself into the chair opposite Ruby and studied her for just a moment before saying, "So tell me, young lady, where is it that you learned to use _this_" And from under his chair, he hefted Ruby's beloved Crescent Rose onto the table between them.

Ruby stuttered for just a second. "Ummm...Basel's Signal," she said slowly.

"They taught you to use one of _the_ most dangerous pulse rifles ever constructed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular," Ruby said back.

"Hmm. It's just that I've only ever seen one other weapon of this model before. It's owner was a dusty old Qrow..."

"That's my uncle Qrow!" Ruby squeaked excitedly. "I was utter garbage until he took me under his wing. Now I'm all like, _PEW! PEW! BANG! BANG! _And stuff!"

The man chuckled as he inspected the weapon before him. It was a twisted and cruel design; fatal in it's function, and beautiful in it's brutality; this was an instrument of death, and was aptly named so. So unbecoming of the cute young girl before him. He tilted his head slightly as he noticed an inscription along the weapon's barrel. "Red like Roses..." he read aloud. He looked Ruby in the eye and said, "Perhaps this should be read as, 'Red like Death.'". The girl shrugged rather uncomfortably, a gesture that did not dissuade his next question. "So tell me, what's an adorable girl like you doing with a weapon such as this?"

Ruby knew that in this moment, honesty was the best move she could make. "Because..." she started slowly. "I want to be a Guardian."

The older man leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows just slightly elevated. "You want to slay monsters?" Was his response.

"Yes," Ruby said back. "My parents always me to help others, so I like to help people, and so does my sister; she's leaving for The Tower tomorrow. And I'm like, if I wanna help people, might as well make a career out of it. I mean the police are cool, but Guardians are so much more romantic; star tripping through the galaxy to save the day and protecting the people. I always wanted to go to the moon like that old song; '_Fly me to the Moon, and let me play among the stars'_...And just...GEEEE! Ya know!?" Near the end of her statement, Ruby's voice had reached the pitch that only dog's could probably hear.

The man before her chuckled endearingly; the girl's youthful enthusiasm eliciting said response. And then he asked her slowly, "Do you know who I am, Ruby?"

Ruby was nearly insulted by the question. "Of course, You're Ozpin, the Speaker of the Light." How could she possibly _not_ know who he was?

Ozpin chuckled again in a sort of self-satisfied manner. "Hello there," he said, inclining his head.

"Nice to meet you," Ruby said back.

"Do you want to come to my Tower, Ruby?"

"More that anything," was her honest whisper of a response.

"Well, alright then," Ozpin said, raising himself from his seat. "Glynda, please see to it that the necessary preparations are made."

"Of course, sir," Glynda said with a bow. Ozpin hobbled his way out of the room, leaving only Glynda and her scowl in his wake. She reached into her blouse's pocket and retrieved a small holographic ticket-chip and handed it to Ruby. "The Skylark bound for the tower will be leaving tomorrow at 3:00 PM sharp; we will be departing whether you are there or not." Ruby had the distinct impression that Glynda much preferred the 'or not' part of that statement.

"Thank you very much," Ruby said. Glynda nodded curtly and _clik-claked _out of the room. Ruby stared at the small trinket in her hands. A scale model image of the illustrious Tower was projected from the chip. After a short time, the Tower was replaced with an image of a Guardian recruitment poster she had seen in various places about the city of Basel. It displayed a female Hunter, expertly twirling a throwing knife through her fingers; a male Warlock, harnessing the essence of the infinite void in his palm; and an intimidating Titan, cracking his knuckles, spoiling for a fight. And in blazing letters over their heads was the Tower's recruitment slogan: _**JOIN THE GUARDIANS. FIND YOUR DESTINY. BECOME LEGEND.**_

__Ruby nearly snapped the thing in half in her glee. She was really doing it; she was going to The Tower! Her eyes came alight with fantastic daydreams of her flying through the galaxy to thwart evil on worlds beyond her own; to see things that no one had ever seen before.

She was prepared for her greatest moments; she was prepared for her finest hour; the dream that she always dreamed was suddenly about to flower. But it was up t her to take the first step.

Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

*End of Legend 1*

...

**A/N: **

** Yeah it's me...again. I was thinking that I wouldn't post this until I had another three or four chapters compete, but I decided to get it up (Bow-Chica-Bow-Wow) while the whole RWBY x Destiny genre is pretty new. Destiny is a really young game, and there will no doubt be plenty of new Fics for it. And if anyone else could see the absolute brilliance of the crossover potential for these two properties, (as nine people already have) then there should be plenty more stories of this like to come.**

** And speaking of said stories, be sure to read, **_**RWBY: Guardians, **_**by fanfiction user, **_**SOVIETxEAGLE. **_**It's a good read that I just had to give a follow! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to do some patrol missions on the moon...**

** - B.D Skunkworks **


	2. Chapter 2- A first impressions

*Legend 2*

A first impressions

...

"Oooh, I'm so proud of you!"

Before Ruby had a chance to speak, she found herself in the arms of her older sister, being crushed by her affectionate bear hug. "Yang...can't...breathe.." she chocked.

"Oh, sorry," Yang said as she let Ruby go. "It's just that I'm so excited to be going to the Tower together!" Yang's long yellow hair swished about as she displayed her enthusiasm. "Me and my little sister, knockin' some Fallen heads!" She punched the air several times to let off some steam.

"Sis, please, it was nothing..." Ruby shrugged modestly.

"But it's not nothing," Yang argued. "You have to be the youngest person in history to ever be made a Guardian!"

"Well, I'm not a Guardian yet. I still have to pass The Tower's initiation; we both do..."

Yang slung her arm around her younger sister's shoulders. "And with guns like these, that won't be a problem!" She un-holstered her hand cannon from her hip, the Hoss Mk.51, and gave the trigger a pull. The hammer clicked on the empty chamber. "Bang!" Yang said.

Ruby laughed along with her. Her confidence at the prospects of her initiation's success were quite high. With her uncle Qrow's training under her belt, and her amazing Crescent Rose, how could she possibly fail?

Ruby now finally had a chance to look about the room they were in.

The Skylark she boarded was flying it's slow way towards the northernmost city in the New United Kingdoms, the city of Vale. From here in the luxury cabin, she had a great view of the landscape as it scrolled lazily by. And of course, there were the other Guardian hopefuls that were aboard too. There must have been more than two dozen people here she was taking this trip with, all of whom were busy chatting about what the initiation could possibly hold. Out of natural instinct and habit, Ruby found herself inspecting each of their chosen weapons. As these people were not true Guardians just yet, their weaponry was mostly basic; she saw lots of level whites and greens, and just a smattering of level blues. She smirked just slightly, knowing she and her sister were far above the skill level of their piers; with Yang already approaching level purple, and Ruby herself capable of handling a level gold.

The chatter in the cabin came to a stop when a news report was transmitted from an invisible screen on the window:

"...In other news today, a small group of Fallen Vandals launched an attack in downtown Basel not twenty-four hours ago. How the Fallen even made it passed the Traveler's defenses and into the city is currently under investigation. However their advance was halted thanks in part to the heroic actions of the Tower's very own Glynda Goodwitch, and a currently unknown Hunter that just happened to be on the scene..."

The screen was now filled with images of Ruby, showing her running amongst the Fallen attackers and taking them down with expert skill. Watching herself on the screen, wielding Crescent Rose against the enemy, Ruby felt a flare of pride growing in her chest...which was quickly replaced by a blush of embarrassed exposure as she realized that every head in the cabin had suddenly turned in her direction.

The air was filled immediately with hushed conversation. "Is that really her?"

"Look, her weapon, is that the _Red Death!?_"

"Can't be. Only two of those exist in the world. It's a fake."

"A noob like that with a level gold?"

Ruby stared down awkwardly at her own boots. She was never at all comfortable in the spotlight, but she supposed that it was something that she would have to get used to if she truly wanted to be a Guardian.

Just then, the news report was cut off and the image of the Warlock woman Ruby met yesterday was projected into the room. _"Hello,"_ her projection began. _"My name is Glynda Goodwitch. And I would like to be the first to congratulate you on being accepted into our prestigious Tower. Our world is currently experiencing an incredible time of unforeseen growth and development. Not only has humanity tapped the riches of our own planet Earth, but we have spread out into the stars, populating other planets such as Venus, home to the Ishtar Academy; Mars, home of the Clovis Bray research center; and even our very own Moon. We have come to call this new time of development, The Golden Age. And none of it would be possible without the will of The Traveler."_

Glynda's holographic image stepped aside from the window to reveal the view of the very Traveler she spoke of. Everyone in the cabin rushed the window to get the best look. The Traveler stood there, suspended just a few hundred feet above the city of Vale. It was probably the most beautiful thing Ruby had ever seen in her life. She was awed by it's silent spherical splendor, knowing that it alone was responsible for not only the blessings of their Golden Age, but for the wonderful powers that it gifted to it's Guardians.

_"The Traveler came to us from parts unknown, and bestowed unto us the boundless knowledge of the universe, and The Infinite Wonders of Creation. And in return, we have dedicated our lives to the protection of The Traveler and it's secrets. And as future Guardians, you will be the protectors of all our accomplishments here in our Golden Age. I hope that each and every one of you are ready to become legend. Welcome to The Tower." _

The ship finally came to rest at it's destination and all of it's passengers disembarked through the service tunnel as directed. Ruby and Yang were just about at the end of line of the Guardian candidates as they made their way the length of the tunnel. And then finally, they stepped out of the tunnel and into the late afternoon sunlight. "Whoaaaa..." was their uniform and awed response. Them and the rest of the Guardian candidates were at the base of the Tower Plaza. Ruby didn't think she could take in the sights fast enough.

Just at their right and left sides were long flags that bore the Vanguard's seal; the Titan, the Hunter, and the Warlock, united in trinity. Everywhere she looked there was activity; Guardians going this way and that, heading out on missions or just returning home. Ruby and the rest of the candidates were startled as a Guardian seemingly appeared out of thin air and landed next to them. She was rather short, but was given a few extra inches of height thanks to the high-heeled stiletto boots she wore. She wore a dark brown beret and matching sunglasses. Ruby couldn't see her eyes behind the lenses, but she was sure she was sizing them up. "Fresh meat for the grinder, eh?" She said. She shook her head and walked off into the plaza; her hand set stylishly on her hip.

While everyone was trying to make sense of this, Glynda got the group's attention. "I would like everyone now to please follow Cayde-6 to the Vanguards, where the Speaker of the Light will give you your orientation speech."

A cloaked Exo waved his hand in the air. "Alright, everybody follow me, and try not to get lost along the way, huh..."

As they fell in line behind Cayde-6, Glynda pulled Ruby to the side. "A word if you please, Miss Rose." Ruby exchanged a look with Yang, who shrugged and continued with the rest of the group. Glynda turned to face Ruby and said straightforwardly, "I'm sorry, Miss Rose , but your weapon will have to be surrendered."

"But why? I don't understand," Ruby whined.

"Your life outside of these walls was of no concern to us," Glynda began crisply. "However, _inside_ Tower walls you are considered to be part of the Vanguard. And as a Guardian recruit, you are a rank one, and rank one's do not have access to level gold equipment."

"But loads of the other recruits brought their own stuff!" Ruby countered.

"Most of which was level white," Glynda clarified. "And thus, perfectly permissible by Vanguard doctrine. Any level greens or blues have been confiscated accordingly. In lieu of your current armament, you will be given a voucher good for one Vanguard-issue, level white primary weapon. I am sorry, Miss Rose, but those are the rules." She paused here to glare at Ruby over her glasses. "We _all_ had to start at the bottom."

Ruby shut her eyes as she lapsed into a mental agony. She couldn't give up Crescent Rose! It was practically a part of her body. She huffed a sigh of defeat, seeing no way to turn this outcome in her favor. Ruby slowly unclasped her precious weapon from her back, and even more slowly...oh so slowly...did she hold it out for Glynda to take.

Glynda took the weapon and handled it gingerly, as though too firm of a grip on it would cause her physical pain; which was actually true seeing as the muzzle of the weapon was covered in rusty iron spikes, and there was a knife-blade bayonet at the end. Glynda walked over to a large electronic device and tapped a few keys. Crescent Rose was transmatted from her hands and into storage. She returned to Ruby's position and said, "You may have your weapon back when you achieve rank twenty."

"But that will take-"

"-_In the mean time_," Glynda said over Ruby. "Here is your weapons voucher." She handed Ruby a small chip. "Turn that in at the weapons dealer as soon as you can, and then report to the Vanguard hall." And with that, Glynda turned on her heel and left Ruby alone.

Ruby immediately went to the electronic vault and tried to activate it. "_Access denied. Please present Guardian validation code,"_ a digital voice said. "Crap..." she sighed. Ruby wandered for a few aimless steps and sat down on a crate near the vault. She felt deflated; with Crescent Rose gone, she was all but missing a piece of her soul...or that's what it felt like. But just then, something snapped her out of her stupor. "What do you think you're doing!" Ruby sprung from her seat and whipped around to find herself face-to-face with a girl who was probably only one or two years older than her. Ruby's first thought was that the girl was very pretty; she had fair white skin and beautiful white hair tied in an elegant ponytail on the side of her head. And her eyes were a clear ice-blue. Her second thought was that she was very angry. "I said, what are you doing!?" The girl snapped. Ruby couldn't think of an answer for her alleged discretion.

"Don't you know what this is?" She continued, scooping up the crate Ruby was formally sitting on and popping the lid. "This is light; purified and generated from my very own body."

"Umm..."

"Ugh!" The girl screamed. "Don't you hear me? Light! Solar, arc, void! Energy! Is any of this sinking in?"

She brandished an orb of said light under Ruby's nose. As Ruby stared into the crystalline depth of the little orb, she began to feel very peculiar..."Please, get that away from me..." she said shakily.

"What was that?" The girl said. "You are in no position to be making demands. I still want to know what you have to say for yourself."

And then without warning...Ruby exploded.

It wasn't a real explosion, but rather a forcible expulsion of excess light from her body. While it wasn't at all harmful or destructive, it was surprising enough that the girl dropped the crate and her orbs of light scattered about her feet. "Gott verdammt!" She cried. "This is _exactly_ what I was talking about!" She dropped to her knees as she gathered up the scattered orbs. "Sie verdammter idiot! Sie fast zerstort alle meine Arbeit!" Ruby recognized the language the girl spoke as German. And even though she didn't speak a lick of the language, she knew enough to realize that those were probably not nice words. The girl had gathered most of her orbs and was frantically searching for the last of them. "Where is it..." she shot Ruby a nasty look. "I'd make you pay for that, but I doubt you've even a single ounce of glimmer to your name, do you?"

"Look, I said I was sorry, _princess_!" Ruby snapped, finally fed up with her superior attitude.

"It's _heiress, _actually," said a new voice from behind them. They both turned around to see a fair-skinned girl with long silky black hair standing there. Ruby wondered for just a second why this girl had such startling yellow eyes; a look to the top of her head revealed the presence of two dark purple cat ears there. 'Oh, she's a Faunus,' Ruby thought. The girl continued, "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee weapons company. The largest manufacturer of weapons, and weaponized hard light in the country."

"Finally, some recognition," Weiss preened.

"The same company infamous for it's controversial labor forces, and questionable business decisions."

Weiss set her hands on her hips indignantly. "How dare you!" She said. She narrowed her eyes and said menacingly, "_Sie schmutzige Tier_..." As the black-haired girl clearly didn't speak German either, the insult was lost on her. It was then that Weiss noticed that she was holding the final orb of light that she had been looking for. And without preamble, she strode over to her and snatched it from her hand. And without a word, the snow-white girl stalked away.

"I promise to make this up to you!" Ruby called after her. If the girl heard her, she gave no inclination. Ruby turned shyly towards the black-haired Faunus girl. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first..." Ruby didn't finish her statement as her eyes fell on the pulse rifle strapped to the girl's back. " ..." That was a level blue weapon; which meant that this was definitely _not_ her first day.

The girl shrugged at the mention of her weapon. "It's a prototype," she nonchalantly. "I actually had to sign a waver regarding any damage I may suffer as a result of it's performance."

Ruby laughed just a bit uncomfortably, not really knowing if she was joking or not. "Umm...my name's Ruby," she said in introduction.

"Blake," was the Faunus girl's response. "You're one of the new recruits, aren't you?" She said as her glossy yellow eyes took in Ruby's weaponless profile.

"Uh, yeah..."

"Do you still have your weapons voucher?"

Ruby patted down her various pockets and pouches until she came up with the little chip. "Right here!"

"Take that to Banshee-44; he'll supply you with your first weapon."

Blake made to turn and leave. "But, ummm...that's kind of it. I have no idea how to get around this place, and I got separated from the rest of the group, and I'm gonna miss the Speaker's speech..." Ruby didn't want to come across as desperate, even though she's sure that what she just did.

Blake looked to Ruby, her mind working all the way back to her first trip to the Tower; being just as nervous, and just as lost. "I can escort you to the weapons dealer," she said. "But after that you're on your own; my team must leave very soon for our appointed mission." She took the lead as Ruby fell in step behind her.

"Oh, where are you going?" Ruby was eager to hear what kind of mission this experienced Guardian had undertaken.

"To Venus," Blake said. "The Cryptarchs have discovered an area in the Ishtar Sink they dubbed, 'The Vault of Glass'. They believe it to be a place of many valuable treasures. However, all attempts to enter the Vault have been thwarted by highly aggressive cyborgs. My team's mission is reconnaissance; to scout any possible alternative methods of entry."

Just then, Blake's ghost materialized into being, floating beside her head. It had an all black shell with small purple highlights at it's tips. _"Blake, we really should get going to the hangar bay. Pyrrha and Ren are already waiting for us there."_

"I know, Adam," Blake said. "As soon as I'm finished here we'll head off."

Ruby eyed Blake's ghost with extreme interest. She always wanted one of her own, of course that couldn't happen until she began a full-fledged Guardian. A few steps later, the pair arrived at what was no doubt the weapons dealer of the Tower. He was a dark blue Exo, with two antenna-like horns on his head. At the moment, he seemed to be lost in a recollective conversation with himself. "What was her name? Fierce eyes; full of light. What was it...?"

Ruby looked questioningly to Blake, who only folded her arms and shook her head. Seeing that she was on her own, Ruby approached the dealer. "Um, Mr. Banshee?" The Exo grunted acknowledgment. "I have a voucher for one-"

"-Primary level white weapon," Banshee grumbled in his rough voice. He took the chip and cast it onto a pile with many of it's like. "So, what do got in mind?"

Ruby looked over the selection on hand. "What do you have in pulse rifles?" She asked.

Banshee turned and perused his inventory until he found the weapon in question. "The Psi Umbra I. Accurized for long-range work."

Ruby looked over the gun. "Do you have a left-handed model available?" She asked with a sheepish smile. The Exo grumbled to himself, wondering why this kid hadn't asked for that the _first_ time. Banshee located the weapon and set it on the counter. "We done here?" He said roughly.

Ruby took up the Psi Umbra I and tested it's balance and it's iron sights. It was light years away from Crescent Rose...but it would do. "Yes, I think we are done here." She said finally. She turned and was somewhat surprised to see that Blake was still there. "Thank you for your help," she said.

Blake inclined her dark-haired head. "The least I could do." She said simply. "Good luck on your initiation." She turned to leave...and came face-to-face with her fire team leader, Pyrrha Nikos. "Ma'am!" Blake stood rather stiffly at attention in the presence of her leader.

The red-haired woman chuckled pleasantly. "We're not in the field, Blake; at ease." Blake nodded and joined her leader's side, next to an Asian boy with a long dark ponytail. Pyrrha's golden eyes fell on Ruby. "Hello there," she smiled. "You're one of the new recruits I take it?"

Despite Pyrrha's friendly greeting, Ruby couldn't help but be slightly intimidated by the presence of this full fire team. Looking over them, Ruby came to the conclusion that Blake was their Hunter; she had a very light and speedy look to her. The boy next to her was definitely a Warlock; Ruby could literally _see _the Void in his eyes. And there was no doubt that their leader Pyrrha was a Titan; one look at her red and gold armor could tell you that. "Um...hi..." Was all that Ruby could eek out.

"Ma'am" Blake said to Pyrrha. "Can I ask why we are still here? We should be off for Venus about now, correct?"

Pyrrha sighed somewhat forlornly. "That will no longer be necessary," she said. "The mission has been re-assigned."

The Faunus girl's cat ears flicked inquisitively. "To whom?" She said.

"To them," Pyrrha said, with a jerk of her head.

And just a little less than halfway across the plaza was the fire team in question. Ruby was once again able to quickly determine which member represented each class. The tallest of the three, a man with spiky pale blue hair and armored boots was clearly their Titan. A girl with long white hair and a pretty caramel-colored skin tone practically _screamed_ Gunslinger, as she was busy twirling a hand cannon around her index finger simply by it's trigger. But it was their third member that gave her pause. By process of elimination, she was of course their Warlock. But there was something different about her..._much_ different. Even here across the courtyard, Ruby could sense her enormous and enigmatic power. She was clad in a rather revealing fire-red slip, and she wore buckle-up boots that went up to her thighs. And here, as though she could sense Ruby watching her, did she turn in her direction. Ruby was startled to see a jet of yellow flame escape her one visible eye that wasn't covered by her long hair. "Whoa..." she breathed. "Who are they?"

The Asian Warlock spoke up for the first time. "That," he said. "Is fire team Cinder."

They watched as the trio made their way to the hangar bay, clearly setting out for the mission that was previously assigned to fire team Nikos. "Well, if we'd lose the honor to anybody..." Blake sighed.

"Well in any case, we are officially off duty now," Pyrrha said, seeing the positive side of things. "We could sit in on the Speaker's speech..."

"With your permission Ma'am," the Warlock said. "I would like to run a patrol on The Moon. I am in need of quite a few helium coils for my weapon." He signaled to the auto rifle strapped to his back, the Silvered Hushwind-D.

"Granted," Pyrrha said with a nod. "Blake, please accompany him on his patrol."

"Of course," Blake responded with a small bow. And the two were off for the hangar bay.

'Wow' Ruby thought. It must be great to be a fire team leader. Pyrrha clearly had the respect and then some of her members. Ruby didn't think she had it in her to lead her fire with such calm and precise orders like that. Of course, after she passed her initiation, she was hoping against hope that she would at least end up on a team with her sister Yang...but there was absolutely no way to guarantee such a thing. "Perhaps I could escort you to the Vanguard's hall...um..." Pyrrha trailed off as she never properly learned the girl's name.

"Oh. I'm Ruby," she said, holding out a hand to shake.

"Pyrrha Nikos." Was the return introduction. "Leader of fire team Nikos, and Titan Vanguard Captain."

Ruby's eyebrows lost themselves in her bangs. "Wow..." she breathed. "It's an honor."

"Likewise, future Guardian," Pyrrha said. "Now we really should be off to the hall."

Ruby nodded and allowed Pyrrha to take the lead. The sun was more than halfway across the sky now here in the very late afternoon, and was beginning to cast it's shadows over the highest spires of the Tower. As they made their way to the Vanguard's hall, they passed many a Guardian, who bade Pyrrha waves and nods of respect, recognizing her rank and position. However, it was the Titans who reacted most spectacularly. Upon seeing their Vanguard Captain, they seemed to drop everything to offer Pyrrha their respect; holding their backs perfectly erect and their chins in the air, they clenched their right fists over their hearts whilst giving a stomp of their left foot.

The Titan salute.

Pyrrha returned each of these tributes with a modest incline of her head as she lead Ruby to their destination. And not much longer from there, did they descend the staircases that lead to the Vanguard's hall. Just at the entrance was the seal of the Vanguards, emblazoned on the outer wall. Ruby ran her hand over the seal with a slow reverence, pausing on the seal of the Hunters. She scanned the series of upward facing arrows as she remembered what her father (who was a Hunter himself) had told her about them. He said that to each and every Hunter in the universe, the seal held a different meaning. Ruby always thought that they looked like a flock of birds flying in perfect formation. Freedom in flight. Freedom in life. She asked her father many times what the seal meant to him, but he would only smile vaguely and shake his head.

Pyrrha allowed the young girl her time for reflection, but brought her gently back to earth by placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come now, Hunter," she said. "The speaker is waiting."

And together they proceeded into the Vanguard's hall.

...

*End of Legend 2*

...

-**A/N:**

** (In my Pyrrha voice) Hello again! Back with an update. Pretty slow writing this one, it's just the weight of all the projects weighing down on me as I fumble around in deciding which ones to update. Seriously, I need to stop creating new fanfics... **

** Anywho, thanks a million for the faves and the follows, and for the constructive criticism in the reviews thus far. There are some things that people want to see and need explained. Everything will be reveled as the chapters wear on. Until then, I'll be signing off for now. See ya next time.**

** -B.D. Skunkworks**

** -P.S.**

** For some reason, I feel like some readers may not like the whole Weiss being German thing. Just keep in mind the "Ethnic Liberties" I mentioned in the first chapter's header. It won't excuse it, but it might explain it. **


	3. Chapter 3- Time to say Goodbye

*Legend 3*

Time to say Goodbye

...

Ruby's first impression of the Vanguard's Hall that it was...big. Really, really, big. It was also very full; the horde of Guardian recruits standing just a few yards from her position. What lied in front of them was blocked from Ruby's view from this angle, but there was no missing the elevated stage that lie in the very front of this large space. Pyrrha left Ruby with a nod and went to take her position somewhere near the front of the rabble. Ruby immediately began searching the crowd for the familiar cascade of yellow hair that was her sister, only Yang found her first. "Ruby over here! I saved you a spot!" She cried with an energetic wave.

Ruby poked her way through the sea of Guardian hopefuls, ignoring the occasional prod by an errant rifle butt, and finally joined her sister's side. "So, how's your first day goin' little sister?" Yang said.

"What, you mean after Glynda separated me from the rest of the group, confiscated my weapon, and I exploded?" Ruby huffed, recounting her time in The Tower up until now."

"Yikes...meltdown already?"

"No! I mean I literally exploded a hole right in front of The Tower! There was some Solar, and I think some Void..."

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang said with pleasantly narrowed eyes.

"I wish!" Ruby sighed. "I sat on this crabby German girl's luggage, then she screamed at me, and then I exploded, and I felt really, _really_ bad, and all I wanted was her to stop screaming at me and-"

"_Sie!"_ Was the sudden shout from directly over Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby's mind immediately flashed back to her unfortunate meeting with Weiss, and all the yelling and the (what were no doubt) insults in a language she couldn't understand. She threw herself into Yang's arms for a sort of frightened infantile protection. "Oh, Traveler, it's happening again!" She whined.

"You are lucky we weren't blown off the side of The Tower!" Weiss snapped at Ruby.

"Oh my Traveler, you really exploded..." Yang said, awed that Ruby could possibly survive...exploding. She then crinkled her eyes in question as she asked, "Wait...who's Z?"

"It was an accident! It was an accident!" Ruby left Yang's arms in an attempt to defend herself from what she was sure would be another verbal onslaught from the the girl, only to come face-to-face with Weiss's Ghost. Which, much like the girl herself, was quite pretty; sporting a powder-blue shell decorated with minute white snowflake decals. "What's this?" She asked. Of course, she knew perfectly well _what_ the Ghost was, what she couldn't understand why she had to talk to _it_, instead of it's owner.

Then the Ghost began a rapid series of pre-programed speeches and instructions in an arrogant, condescending, (and undoubtedly) female voice:

_"The Schnee Light company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Light company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with an easy to follow guide to Light application and practice in the field."_

Ruby was fairly certain that half her brain exploded while trying to follow what the little device just said."Uhhh..."

_"Do you really want to start making things up to her?"_ The Ghost said.

"Absolutely..."

_"Then go away and don't ever speak to her again." _

'Yikes, even her Ghost is a bitch...' Ruby thought sourly.

It was then that Yang came to her sister's rescue. "Look...uhhh, it just sounds like you two got off on the wrong foot." She said. "Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"

"Yes, great idea, sis!" Ruby said, seizing on the suggestion. "Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby." She held out her hand to shake.

"_Vice?" _Yang pondered out loud, likening the girl's name to it's closest English-sounding equivalent. Weiss shot Yang an angry blue-eyed stare, before turning what little attention she felt like giving back to Ruby.

"Do you want to hang out?" Ruby continued nervously. "We could go shopping for weapon supplies."

"Ja!" Was Weiss's suspiciously enthusiastic response. "Then we can paint our Ghosts, and try on Shaders, and talk about cute Warlocks like tall, blue, and fiery over there." She pointed a thumb at a tall awoken Warlock not too far from their little group, who's, unless Ruby was mistaken, head seemed to be issuing what looked like white flames.

"Wow, really?" Ruby squeaked.

The look on Weiss's face at that moment could have conveyed clearly enough the whole, 'I can't freakin' believe you took me seriously' thing. But if this girl was really _that _stupid, she would no doubt need some verbal re-enforcement. "No." Was her plain answer.

Just then, the feedback of a tapped microphone reverberated throughout the room. Every head in the hall turned uniformly towards the stage erected in front of the crowd. And there at center stage, with Glynda Goodwitch at his side, was Ozpin, The Speaker of the Light. He pushed his shaded spectacles up his nose before he began his speech. "I'll...keep this brief," said his electronically amplified voice. "You have come to this Tower seeking knowledge; to hone your skills and perfect your crafts as future Guardians." He paused here, for reload, and a quick glance around the room. For some reason, Ruby couldn't help but feel that his eyes lingered just slightly on her own during their sweep. "But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy. Potential...in need of direction. You assume that knowledge will free you of this. But in your time serving not only here on earth, but on all of our worlds beyond, you will learn that knowledge will only take you so far." He paused again, and there was no mistaking it; he _definitely_ looked right into Ruby's eyes this time. "It is up to you to take the first step."

Ozpin limped away from the microphone as Glynda took his place. "All Guardian recruits will now be escorted to their living quarters. At o' eight-hundred hours tomorrow your initiation begins." She said. "You will report back here to Cayde-6 at that time. Be ready. You are dismissed."

The hall broke out into chatter as the recruits began to file out back into the Tower Plaza. Ruby made sure to scoot out of the way of the tide of recruits as they made their way. She stood on tip-toe trying to get one last look at The Speaker before he left the stage, but had already gone. Yang's hand on her shoulder brought Ruby back to herself. "Some speech, huh?" She said.

Ruby shook her head just slightly. "I don't know. He seemed...out of it."

"Almost like he wasn't there," Yang confirmed.

In the end, they joined the very end of the que of recruits heading back across the Tower Plaza. Night had truly fallen now, and the Plaza had come alive with artificial lights. They marched back to the staircase from which they originally entered The Tower. And to either the right or left of that small staircase, were the male and female living quarters respectively. As the recruits were shown one by one where they would be staying in Tower, Ruby finally got to see who was escorting them on this short trip, and she was surprised to see that it was..."Blake!" Ruby squeaked.

The Faunus girl smiled slightly and inclined her head in greeting. "How are you Ruby?"

Ruby then introduced Yang. "This is my older sister, Yang Xiao Long."

"Yo," was Yang's greeting, maintaining her ever un-shakable coolness.

"How do you do?" Was Blake's return greeting.

"Do you live here in this section with us?" Was Ruby's next question.

"No," Blake said. "I live in the Tower North housing, along with the other advanced Guardians."

"Advanced Guardians?" Yang questioned.

Blake nodded. "There are currently thirty ranks to Guardianship; one through thirty. These ranks are broken up into tiers; one through ten is the novice tier; eleven through nineteen is intermediate; twenty through twenty-nine is advanced; and thirty and above are considered to be master Guardians."

"Wow..." Ruby breathed. She of course had no idea how the Guardian hierarchy worked until now. "What rank are you, Blake, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I am rank twenty-four," Blake said back. "My partner Lie Ren is rank twenty-two, and our leader Pyrrha is rank twenty-eight."

"Oh!" Ruby remarked. She stiffened her spine as she stood at attention in the presence of a superior Guardian. "Ma'am!" She said dutifully. Ruby elbowed Yang in the ribs and she hastily adopted the same posture.

"That's far from necessary," Blake said just a bit uncomfortably. She eyed Ruby closely through her yellow eyes. "Besides, if I were to guess, I'd say we share the same class; maybe even the same semblance..."

Ruby's eyes lit up. "I _knew_ you were a Blade Dancer!" She said excitedly.

Blake turned to Yang. "What about you, Yang?" She said. Her eyes grazed the other girl's profile for a bit. "Titan?"

Yang pounded her right fist into her open left hand. "Striker." She said in confirmation.

Blake nodded her understanding. "Well, your room is right here on the end, it should accommodate the both of you quite comfortably." She gave each of them a nod of farewell. "Good luck to both of you tomorrow."

She turned to leave, but was stopped by an outcry from Ruby. "Wait a second!" Blake turned around, her yellow eyes full of question. "You said there are four Guardian tiers. Are there any in the master tier?" Ruby really had no idea why she needed to know this, but she supposed such knowledge could help her avoid any awkward situations in the long run.

"Currently, there are no Guardians in the master tier," Blake said.

"Not even those fire team Cinder guys?"

"No," Blake said. "But they all are about as close as you can get at rank twenty-nine."

Even Yang was curious at this point. "What would it take to get into master tier?" She asked.

Blake shook her head. "No one knows. The Speaker once told us that master Guardians were those that have accomplished a feat so epic, that even they themselves would not be able to emulate the task."

Yang squinted her eyes. "So... they have to do something so bad-ass that they couldn't even do it again?"

"In simple terms, yes," Blake said back. She stood there for just a moment longer before saying, "Well, goodnight. Good luck tomorrow." And she left them alone.

Yang faked a yawn as she said, "Well, I don't know about you, sis, but I'm ready to hit the sack." She then quickly un-holstered her Vanguard-issue hand cannon, the Duke Mk.10 and took aim at an imaginary target. "And then tomorrow, we'll hit The Fallen!" She pulled the trigger several times, knocking the hammer on the empty barrel.

"Right," Ruby said rather dreamily. "Tomorrow..." And they retired to their quarters.

...

Ruby couldn't sleep. She knew the effort would be futile before she even lay down. So many thoughts raced through her head, faster and faster, losing track of one before the next even came to be. In her state of restless awareness, she could tell that Yang was still awake. She knew because her sister's thunder-like snoring was absent from the room. Ruby rolled over on her side. "Yang, are you awake?" she half whispered.

"Yeah," was the response.

Ruby rose from her own bed and crossed the short distance across the room to Yang's. She curled up next to her, tucked into the crook of Yang's long body, just like when she was but a toddler. Ruby's body was relaxed in this familiar position, but her mind was far from idle. "We can do it, can't we?" She whispered.

"Do what? Pass the initiation?" Yang said back.

"No, I mean...can we be Guardians?" Ruby took Yang's silence as plea to continue. "Once we do pass initiation, our lives end as we know them. I have this romanticized picture in my head of what it means to be a Guardian; to fly across the universe and protect our people, no matter where they lie. But that will be our lives; spending each and every day fighting as if it were our last..." Ruby trailed off, her voice failing her at that point.

Yang was silent just a moment before she said, "Well...then I guess it's time to say goodbye."

"To our carefree lives..." Ruby whispered.

"And the innocence of youth," Yang added. "We knew we couldn't stay helpless forever. And seeing how The Traveler extended our life spans, that makes every day we spend fighting more meaningful, because we'll be around longer to make more of a difference."

"Yeah...that's one way to look at it," Ruby smirked.

Yang ruffled Ruby's already bed-tousled hair. "Two hundred years of kickin' ass and takin' names."

Ruby chuckled to herself, her eyes closed and fading fast. With her mind eased by Yang's presence and reassurance, sleep came up to meet her almost at once.

...

_BREEEEEEEEE!_ Ruby catapulted herself to a siting position as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest. In the center of the early day-lit room stood Cayde-6 and his Ghost, which was currently blaring it's electronic siren. Ruby's first thought was why the hell did he have to wake them so early? Her next was...wait...WHAT WAS HE DOING IN HERE!? Ruby made a desperate attempt to cover herself. "GAH! Is nothing sacred!?" She gasped.

Cayde only shook his head. "Lemme lay two things things on ya, sweetheart," he cracked wisely. "First, I'm not really here. Second, in case you haven't noticed, I'm an Exo; what you got doesn't interest me at all. Not that there's much there to begin with..." Ruby chucked a pillow at the intrusive hologram. "Let's go, ladies!" Cayde said, before vanishing from the room.

Yang pushed herself up from her sleeping position; her hair a mess and her eyes barely open. "Wherezafire...?"she drawled sleepily.

"Cayde-6 gave us a wake up call," Ruby said, already pulling on her gear. "We have to be at the Vanguard Hall."

"Oh, yeah!" Yang said, suddenly wider than awake.

In no time the two girls were geared up and heading out the door. They met a good number of their fellow female recruits in the corridor, whom they exchanged rather nervous greetings with, the reality of their immanent initiation heavy on their minds. They formed an orderly pack as they traveled across the plaza to the Hall. And once they arrived, they were met with an incredible sight.

The Vanguard Hall was nearly filled to capacity. Not only was it packed with all of the recruits that had made the trip to The Tower, but it seemed like every Guardian in The Tower was on hand for the event. Ruby's eyes did a slow circuit around the room as she took in the sight of so many veteran Guardians in one place. And of course, they all stared back; talking and laughing amongst themselves, no doubt sizing up this fresh group of rookies ready to be initiated. Ruby's eyes fell on the (rather unfortunately) familiar form of Weiss. Ruby gave her a small wave and shy smile. Weiss obliged by folding her arms and pointing her nose in the air. Oh well...

And when all the recruits were finally present, Cayde-6 took center stage and signaled to the rabble for silence. "Alright, listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna feel like saying this once," he began. "With Miss Goodwitch busy assisting The Speaker, that means _I'm_ in charge of you newbies this year. As you already know, you are soon to be deployed for your initiation. Whether that takes place here on Earth, or anywhere else is totally up to chance.

"You will be going in teams of two; you, and your chaperone. And while out in the field, they will be your boss. What they say goes, _period. _AndIt's here that I'm gonna be frank with you; all of you will not succeed." Cayde cast a slow look around the faces of the fresh recruits, as though mentally picking out those he thought this statement applied to. "If you are unsuccessful in your appointed task, then you will be escorted from The Tower and will be free to try again in another year."

"Now, when I call your name, you will present yourself to me front and center for appraisal, partnering, and deployment." Cayde looked over the scroll in his hands as he prepared to read off from the list, but seemed to suddenly remember something of great importance. "Oh, one more thing," he said. "For all you Hunters in the crowd; in case you haven't picked up on it yet, _I am_ the Hunter Vanguard captain, and you will show me the proper respect. Whenever I address you, or _you_ address me, or any other superior Hunter, you will first offer this salute." Cayde raised his right hand to his forehead, the thumb tucked in, in the age-old military gesture. This action was followed by clenching the same hand in an emphatic fist pump.

The Hunter salute.

"Not hard to remember, is it?" Cayde said. "If anything it's the simplest of the three salutes." He raised his scroll again. "Alright, let's get started."

And from there Cayde began to read off names from the list of recruits. Of course, Ruby didn't know any of these people, but she was sure she would eventually. These were the very same people that she would be fighting along side with in the very near future, provided they passed their initiation of course. Ruby payed very close attention to the appraisal process of these future Guardians, as to get a bead on their classes and semblances; a tall Awoken female; Titan, Striker. A nineteen year old human male; Hunter, Gunslinger. An Exo Female; Warlock, Void Walker. And even more interesting than their appraisals, were their partners. Every recruit was paired with a veteran Guardian, to see them through their initiation.

The awoken Titan woman was paired with an absolute giant of a man named Yatsuhashi, a Titan striker. The male Gunslinger was partnered with a woman that Ruby couldn't help but to look twice at. She was just barely taller than Ruby herself. She was clad in a midriff-bearing uniform of navy blue with a pleated mini-skirt. Her body was thin, but quite curvy; her long, almost straw-blonde hair fell past her shoulders; and her eyes were brilliant green. She was a Hunter Gunslinger. Her name was Noel Vermillion.

It was about here that Ruby noticed that they were being matched class for class, semblance for semblance, likely to allow the recruits to see a superior Guardian with similar abilities in action.

Ruby waffled a little nervously next to Yang as they crowd of recruits began to thin around them. Yang was getting quite anxious herself, as she began to fiddle with her hair. This was a habit that she carried over from her childhood. Among all other things in the world, (except for her family of course) Yang loved her hair the most; it was her pride and joy. She would often take to fiddling around with it in situations where she felt challenged or excited, or nervous, like she was feeling now. And Traveler help you if you do anything to muss it up. The last guy who ripped out a strand of Yang's hair...

Well, this fic is rated T, so I can't tell you that here.

And then her name was being called by Cayde-6, "Yang Xiao Long, front and center!" Yang gave her hair a final toss before approaching the stage, her head held high with confidence. Cayde looked over his scroll. "We got ourselves a Titan here, Striker semblance. Now..." he trailed off, something highly unusual catching his attention. "Now that is somethin'," he said quietly. "Nikos, come have a look at this."

Pyrrha strode over from her position on the far right of the stage. She read over the scroll Cayde held before her and she let out a low whistle. "A Striker with a Solar affinity," she said slowly. She locked eyes with Yang, "I'm interested to see what your Fist of Havoc can do." Yang set her fists on her hips proudly at the remark. "I'll take her," Pyrrha said suddenly.

"Your enthusiasm is appreciated, Nikos, but we both know that's out of the question," Cayde said.

Pyrrha rolled her eyes pleasantly. "It is rather boring just staying stuck here in the Hall all the time," she said. She gave Yang a last nod before returning to her position on the stage.

Cayde returned to his scroll. "Hmmm. We seem to be running out of similar semblances," he said. "I'll have you go with..." he set in motion the scroll's RNG function, and it landed on, "Blake Belladonna," he said.

Blake heard the call and descended from her position on the balconies overlooking the Vanguard Hall. She offered Cayde the Hunter salute and then joined Yang's side.

"Alright, so you two are heading for The Moon," Cayde told the two of them. "One of our lunar colonies has lost a few vital bits of Earth-related information to a few Prying Servitors. You are to stalk these Servitors and eliminate them. Clear?"

"Yes, sir!" The girls said in unison. They moved from the stage and stood with the other Guardian-recruit parings.

Cayde continued to read off more names from the list and before she knew it, she was the final recruit left. Ruby felt intensely vulnerable standing here all alone in the center of the Hall, the eyes of everyone on her at once. 'Picked last again,' Ruby thought abysmally. 'It's elementary school kickball all over again...' And just then, the call of "Ruby Rose!" had come from Cayde. Ruby sucked in a breath as she approached the stage. She passed Yang along the way who gave her an encouraging nod. Ruby presented herself to Cayde and waited for him to begin.

"Let's see here..." he said. "Looking at a Hunter here, Blade Dancer Semblance." He stopped his speech here and glared at Ruby through his electric eyes. Ruby started as she realized she had forgotten to pay respect to her Vanguard Captain. She mimicked Cayde's earlier salute the best she could. Cayde seemed satisfied.

"Alright," Cayde said, going back to hi scroll. "It seems that all of our on hand Hunters have already been partnered, which means you'll be accompanied by someone of a different class than yourself." Cayde let the RNG do it's thing. "And that person is...Weiss Schnee."

_'Oh, no'_ was Ruby's mental moan.

Weiss marched onto the stage and turned to face Cayde, not even glancing at Ruby. "You two are going to the Cosmodrome in Russia," Cayde instructed. "Relatively short trip, I know. "As it turns out, a small Fallen house has sprung up near their Sky Watch; nothing to serious, the reports indicate it's about a dozen Dregs and an overly ambitious Vandal. Your orders are to quell this house and all those inside it, clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Ruby said. Weiss simply nodded, her brow furrowed.

"Alright, that does it for the pairings," Cayde said to the group in large. "Your chaperones will now escort you to the Hangar Bay where you will disembark for your missions. Good luck, and Light be with you, Guardians." He offered the Hunter Salute in parting and the teams left the Hall for the Hangar Bay.

All except for one team that is. Weiss simply stood with her arms folded as she chewed her bottom lip. She looked for all the world like she she did not want to be approached, but Ruby tried anyway. "So...Weiss, should we get going?"

Weiss ignored Ruby completely and marched right up to Cayde-6. "Um, Herr Cayde?" She said.

"Hm. What is it, Warlock?" Cayde said, his eyes not moving from his scroll's display.

"It's...about my partner..."

"Go on."

"Is there no one else on hand today?"

"Oh, you're not happy with the pairing?" Cayde said.

"Well, frankly sir...no, I'm not."

"We can do something about that," Cayde said.

"You can?" Weiss responded, her hopes rising.

"Sure!" The Exo responded cheerfully. "I would be more than happy to demote you a rank!"

Weiss deflated at that statement. She huffed a sigh and made her way back to Ruby. "By no means does this make us friends," she said bitterly, literally dragging Ruby from the hall by her red cloak.

"You came back!" Ruby squeaked in relief.

The two made their way to the Hangar Bay, which was now alive with activity due to the influx of departing Guardians. Weiss waited near one the Hangar elevator plates for her ship to be presented. And with a deafening mechanical clang, her ship came up. Ruby recognized the model as the LRV1 Javelin. "The transmatt, if you would, Windig," Weiss said to her Ghost.

Ruby had never actually been transmatted before, and was quite nervous at the prospect. But before she could prepare, she found herself already in the ship, in a seat right behind Weiss. Ruby knew that most Guardian jump ships were only modeled for one person, and she found the seat and the cockpit to be just a bit cramped.

Weiss minded the controls as she flipped various switches and levers, talking in rapid German to her Ghost the whole time. Ruby did her best to find a comfortable position for her squashed knees as she attempted another conversation with her partner. "So, Weiss...what rank are you, if I can ask?"

Weiss leaned back in her pilot's chair, her white ponytail falling over the seat. "I am rank four, if you must know."

Ruby balked. "That's it?" Ruby said glibly. That seemed strange considering that the other recruits were paired with Guardians who were rank twenty and up.

"I don't have much of a rank for two reasons," Weiss began defensively. "One; I am what's known as a floater, a Guardian that does not have a true Fire Team yet. I fill in where other teams are down a member, or run patrols for the Vanguard. And second; I am currently taking rigorous Cryptarch courses, as that is my other aspiration, thank you very much."

"A Guardian Cryptarch..." Ruby mused. "That's kinda cool!" A thought then occurred to her. "Wait. Wouldn't it be kinda hard to do both?"

"It is," Weiss said. "The Vanguard demands my status as a Guardian be upheld at all times, but I don't want to fall behind on my Cryptarch courses either...so I try to balance them out."

"Well, if it were me, I would try to figure out which one I liked best, and stick with that. I always wanted to be a Guardian, so that's what I would do. But, I digest," Ruby finally.

Weiss turned around to face Ruby. "_Digress_," she corrected her.

"Bless you."

Weiss groaned and turned back in her seat. "Why are we just standing here?" Ruby said, seeing that off to their left, another jump ship had just departed the Hangar.

"We have to cleared," Weiss told her. "The air traffic is quite heavy right now, so we need to wait for a clear flight path. Honestly, don't you know anything?"

'I know that you're a jerk...' was Ruby's first thought.

_"LRV1 Javelin registered to miss Weiss Schnee, you are now clear for take off. Light be with you."_ Said the flight hand through her Ghost.

"Ausgezeichnet," Weiss said. She cast another look back to Ruby. "You stay quiet and try not disturb me, okay?" Ruby waved her hand with a smile. As soon as Weiss turned her back, this wave became a...one-fingered salute.

Weiss began her pre-flight checklist; "Mototemperatur, scheck; Triebwerke, scheck; Stabilisatoren, scheck. Alle systeme gehen!"

Suddenly the cockpit was bathed in red as the ship's error lights flared on. "A program error!" Ruby said.

"It's thought noise, I told you not to disturb me," Weiss said.

"What do you mean?"

"You're thinking in English aren't you?" Weiss snapped. "If you must think, do it in German!"

"Well, let's see," Ruby thought aloud. "Strudel, bratwurst..."

"Dummkopf!" Weiss cut her off sharply. "Set language interface for English. Let's go."

And Weiss powered the ship's thrusters and the two were off for the Cosmodrome.

...

*End of Legend 3*

...

**A/N: **

** Good grief, this took a while to type, due mostly to my Gemini trait of inconsistency (look it up). In Destiny news, with the whole Dark Below expansion, I have to remodel all of my weapons, and my armor to reach the new standards, so I've been hittin' the 360 pretty hard lately. Of course I've much bigger things to worry about with the whole healthcare (Ha!) employer mandate kicking in again. Business owners around the country are already starting to sweat. If your hours on the job get cut, just know why :/**

** In any case, I would like to thank guest and member alike for giving my story a read, and a even bigger thank you for the well-constructed criticism in the reviews thus far. I'll post again when I can.**

** -B.D. Skunkworks **


	4. Chapter 4- Pulling Teeth

*Chapter 4*

Pulling Teeth

...

They were away. Their destination; the Cosmodrome in Russia; was a relatively short flight away; twenty minutes under minimum propulsion. Seeing as Weiss was chaperoning a recruit, she wanted to use the time to gather herself mentally, to prepare for what could possibly be ahead. However, the problem therein was that her partner simply wouldn't _shut the hell up!_

"This is a really nice ship," Ruby prattled on. "Dad had a jump ship too; an Arcadia class. It was a real junker, but it got us from place to place. He once jumped us to Mars and back. We didn't land though; he just wanted to prove the ship could do it because Yang was convinced that it would probably explode if he tried it and-" Ruby was finally silenced by an ice-cold stare from Weiss. "-Am I still talking?" Ruby laughed nervously as silence settled over the cabin; perforated only by the sound of passing wind slicing over the ship's aerodynamics.

Ruby drummed her fingers on the Psi Umbra that lay somewhat awkwardly across her lap. Ruby wasn't exactly a model of social interaction. Meeting other people always made her nervous. And Weiss _definitely_ made her nervous. And when he got nervous, she talked, _alot_. Which is why she almost couldn't stop herself from asking her partner a rather personal question. "So...Weiss...what made you want to become a Guardian?"

The other girl was silent for just a moment, her white-haired head tilted in thought. "I suppose when it came down to it, I didn't really have a choice," she said. "I'm a Schnee, and there's a legacy that comes with that name. But I can't just sit back and let the name do the work for me, I have to live up to it; I have to _earn_ it. What better way to do that than protecting our worlds against The Fallen?"

"So noble..." Ruby sighed. And then she continued to plug Weiss while she seemed to be in a talking mood. "So why is it that you want to be a Cryptarch?"

Ruby could feel a greater sense of enthusiasm from Weiss at that question. "Knowledge," Weiss began. "Is one of _the_ most powerful tools any Guardian can hope to have in their arsenal. Without it, you can not hope to understand your enemy, let alone defeat them. But it's not just knowledge of your adversaries, you must have knowledge of yourself as well. Knowing what you are capable of and having confidence in those capabilities is the surest path to victory.

That's what makes being a Cryptarch so enjoyable. It's not always easy, but being able to pit your mind against technological encryptions and codes from every end of the universe is endlessly exciting!"

Ruby was glad to hear that her partner was passionate about something other than being a total snob. "So what kind of things have you been working on?"

"Engrams, mostly," Weiss responded, happy to keep this intelligent thread going. "Level whites and greens are a breeze, and blues are getting to be fairly simple as well. But level purple is proving to be quite a bit more challenging.

You see, when you're decoding an Engram, the first thing you have to do is isolate it's source code, and from there you can get a lock on it's context; that will tell you exactly who encoded the Engram and how long ago. Then you have to identify the matrices of the Engram's encoding patterns, and after that..." It was at that point that Weiss became aware of the empty silence coming from her receptive audience. She turned around to face Ruby. "Why do I have the terrible feeling that I'm wasting my breath?"

Ruby's brain was already soft boiled from Weiss's string of techno babble. "I um..."

Weiss whipped around in her seat in disgust. "Why is having an intelligent conversation with you like trying to pull rooster teeth?" Weiss called to her Ghost. "Windig?" The snowflake-speckled Ghost appeared at the call. "Play me something, please."

Windig searched her audio files to find something to her mistress's liking. Upon settling on her selection, she played the file via her tiny, but very powerful speakers.

A series of melodic and crystalline chines sounded throughout the cabin, followed by the crashing power chords of an electric guitar. Ruby's head instantly perked up and a huge grin broke across her face as a lovely and husky female voice joined the song; '_Illusio_n, _division, transcendence of angel's aeon...'_

Weiss caught on to Ruby's enthusiasm. "You know this one?" She said with a cocked eyebrow.

"How could I not?!" Ruby squeaked, "It's a song about The Traveler!" Ruby joined in the song's next few bars: _"Ethereal, material, eternal but still so mortal!"_

Weiss smiled to herself as she picked up the next lyric: "_Emotion, devotion, grand mirror of souls horizons..."_

The two girls had quite a good time singing along with the song. Weiss, not surprisingly, could actually hold a note. Ruby on the other hand...well...she had spirit, one would give her that.

They sang the final chorus at the top of their combined voices:

_"Mother of golden sunshine_

_ mountains and oceans!_

_ free all the splendor of your conscience_

_ and reveal your mystic spirit to your sun!_

_ Mother of Allllllllllllllllllllllllllll!"_

Ruby collapsed contently back in her chair. "I can't wait wait 'till that album comes out!" She said. "Instead of just teasing us with that single..."

Weiss was about to comment, but Windig cut her short. _"We are approaching The Cosmodrome now; less than half a mile off."_

Right. Back to business. "Windig, find us a suitable landing zone that won't alert The Fallen to our presence," were Weiss's orders. She then turned to Ruby, "You are ready for this, aren't you?"

Ruby cocked her pulse rifle in response, "Let me at 'em!"

The Javelin jump ship had began it's descent as the landscape below became visible. The ship flew a small circle around a particularly flat stretch of land before coming to a rest about ten feet above the ground, it's thrusters kicking up clouds of sand. Weiss's Ghost initiated the transmat, and both girls were deposited onto the ground below. The Javelin returned to orbit to await it's next call, and Ruby and Weiss were left in the relative silence of their surroundings.

Weiss took note of the number of pristine aircraft that surrounded them; mostly cargo planes, a few personal jets, and even a few choppers. It was then that she realized where they were, "The Mothyards," she said. She looked into the distance where a service building began route to their destination. "We're not too far off..." Weiss faced her Ghost as she said, "Windig, my weapon please." Windig obliged and transferred Weiss's stored weapons into her hands. First was her special weapon, the Nox Cantor II fusion rifle, Arc affinity. Next was her primary weapon, the Marshal-A1 auto rifle. She however, had yet to acquire a heavy weapon.

'How nice it must be...' Ruby thought, to have a Ghost carry your weaponry for you. As Ruby had no Ghost of her own yet, she had to physically haul her lone Psi Umbra everywhere she went. But that suddenly reminded Ruby of a very important question she had been meaning to ask her partner. "I don't think I've asked your class or semblance yet have I?"

Weiss made a few more adjustments to her Marshal-A1 before answering. "Warlock; Voidwalker."

Now that they were armed, it was time to mobilize. "My sparrow please, Windig." Weiss's personal transport appeared before her. Ruby almost rolled her eyes at the color scheme. It was a very light, metallic ice-blue with white details like frost. Ruby couldn't quite put a finger on the model, and deduced that it must have been a custom job, which figured. When you had more glimmer that you knew what to do with, building a custom sparrow was probably not hard to do. Weiss mounted up and kicked the engine to life. "Let's go," she said impatiently to Ruby.

Ruby wondered just how the two of the were going to fit on this thing. A jump ship was one thing, but a sparrow was _definitely_ only built for one person. Seeing nothing else for it, Ruby straddled the small section of the seat that was still available behind Weiss, this was made much more difficult with the auto rifle strapped to her back. To make matters worse, Seeing a Weiss had to steer the sparrow with her feet, Ruby had nowhere to rest her own, so they just dangled rather lamely over the body of the vehicle.

"Ready?" Weiss asked.

"Uhh..."

"Good," Weiss said. She keyed the engine and they off across the Mothyards...

Very _slowly_, across the Mothyards.

Ruby was ready to be thrown from the sparrow under a sudden burst of speed, but Weiss seemed to be taking her sweet time. "C'mon Weiss, give it some gas!" She said. "I've ridden on Robins that were faster than this thing."

A Robin was a smaller model of Sparrow intended for children. Pretty much the same thing, just without the boost function.

"I was only taking your well-being into account," Weiss quipped. "But since you asked..." Weiss ignited the boost and the speed Ruby initially braced herself for made itself apparent. She gripped the tail of the seat just behind her as the wind burned her eyes. Weiss decided to torture poor Ruby a bit by kicking her right foot out, causing the Sparrow to sharply turn left right through a row of aligned cargo planes. She weaved expertly through the parked aircraft at top speed, slaloming under wings and through narrow isles. Ruby would have begged her to stop, but her teeth were clenched shut, making speech impossible.

After navigating through planes and choppers, Weiss steered the Sparrow up a wide hill; her right foot held out, banking left the whole way. And finally, they reached a security station at the very top. Weiss killed the engine and looked over her shoulder to Ruby. "How was that?" She asked her.

Having finally unglued her jaw, Ruby was able to croak, "I can't feel my teeth..."

They both un-mounted the vehicle as a member of the security personnel still on duty here in the face of the Fallen threat, made his way towards them. Weiss held her Ghost out to the man at his eye level as he approached; this being the equivalent of a police officer flashing their badge.

"Guardians," he said. "About time ya showed up." Ruby noticed that the middle-aged officer looked fairly beaten; drawn from lack of sleep. Ruby, as was her custom, made note of the weapon on his back.

"We are on initiation from the Tower, and this is my recruit," Weiss said, conducting herself as mature and composed. "We've been tasked with eliminating any Fallen in the vicinity."

"Well then, to your work, Guardians. Light be with ya." The man boarded a nearby elevator and was soon lost from sight.

Ruby immediately spoke up. "Why don't the military fight The Fallen with us?" She questioned. "Did you see the Khvostov 7G-02 that guy had? He could lacerate a Vandal from forty yards out with that thing!"

"It doesn't work like that," Weiss said seriously. "The Fallen are enemies of The Traveler, which means that we don't know where they come from. Normal humans with such a small amount of The Traveler's light within them cannot hope to harm The Fallen at all. That's why _we_ exist; Guardians who can wield The Traveler's light as a weapon; a directed force against it's enemies. Without us, humanity could never hope to fight them off." Ruby was silent as she absorbed Weiss's speech. "We need to get moving." And Weiss led the way into the security facility.

Inside, they found themselves surrounded by computers and monitors hooked up to all sorts of electric doodads. Ruby wasn't exactly versed in computers, save for the scroll her uncle Qrow had bought her. Weiss however, was in her element. She approached the nearest terminal and glanced it over. Ruby took note of the studious frown that had come over her face suddenly. "What?"

"These terminals...they're brand new," was Weiss's answer.

"So..."

"_So_," Weiss retorted smartly, "That mean they were brought in not very long ago, maybe twenty-four hours, max."

"Meaning what?" Ruby said, quickly losing the thread.

"Meaning that whatever they were planning to do here has only recently been disrupted. Which means that the Fallen presence here is very small."

"But how can that be? If The Fallen-" But Weiss had already taken off deeper into the building. Ruby called after her, "What's the hurry?"

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow," Weiss said while still walking. "I swear that if I get a bad report because-"

_VROOOON!_

Ruby tore through local space time to instantly appear in front of Weiss, causing her to stop in her tracks. "What the!?" Weiss was equal parts surprised and agitated at Ruby's sudden reappearance.

"I'm not slow, see?" Ruby said. "You don't have to worry about me!"

"Rank one Blade Dancer's should not be able to blink," Weiss said crossly.

"I can do a whole lot of things I shouldn't be able to do," Ruby said. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss! And after it's all over, you're gonna be like, 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really, _coool._ And I wanna be your friend.'" _VROOOON! _Ruby blinked up the corridor ahead and out of Weiss's range of sight.

Weiss shook her head. "You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" She called after her.

Weiss became all too suddenly aware that she was alone in this room , the silence had quickly turned into an eerie oppression. There was a doorway just to her left, leading down a service corridor. And from this doorway, did Weiss hear a disturbance. "Ruby..." she called tentatively. There was no response except for the sound of whatever it was coming through that doorway. "Ruby..." At this point, Weiss was sure that it was not Ruby making those sounds, they couldn't have been human...and just as Weiss had the thought, did her assailant spring from the shadows. A Fallen Vandal, each of it's four hands armed with razor sharp cutlasses.

Weiss was able to work out one last call before the Vandal struck, _"Ruby!"_

*End of Chapter 4*

...

**A/N:**

** I'll try to keep this one brief. Just a quick thank you for the faves, the follows, and the reviews. I like the way this is coming together and I most certainly hope you guys (and girls ;) ) are enjoying it too. Now if you'll excuse me, I desperately need to find a Pokemon trade partner to evolve my Milotic and Dusknoir.**

** B.D. Skunkworks **


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